WASHINGTON, November 6 (RIA Novosti) — Whatever lawful action necessary to pass a comprehensive immigration reform, it will be taken, US President Barack Obama said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
"Before the end of the year, we [the United States] are going to take whatever lawful actions… that I believe will improve the functioning of our [US] immigration system," Obama said.
President Obama said that he would reach out to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell and Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner to find out how they want to proceed on immigration reform and whether or not they want to put together a comprehensive immigration bill.
"What I am not going to do is just wait," President Obama said.
"I think it's fair to say that I have showed a lot of patience and I have tried to work on a bipartisan basis as much as possible and I am not going to keep on doing so but in the meantime let's figure out what we can do all the way through executive actions to improve the functioning of the existing system," he added.
The Obama administration has been widely criticized for its slow response to ongoing immigration problems, as more than 55,000 children from Central America arrived to the United States this year searching for a better life.
Obama reminded the audience that he has already been working with Congress on a bipartisan immigration reform bill, and says that despite their absence he will continue to do so.
